


Changes

by rsadelle



Category: Metallica
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-02-08
Updated: 2001-02-08
Packaged: 2017-10-27 07:53:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/293422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rsadelle/pseuds/rsadelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of Jason's departure, James, Lars and Kirk talk about the future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Changes

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Nette for reading through this and thinking of a title.

Lars waved his cigarette around, gesturing wildly. "Fuck, I'm sick of all of this. You know, maybe all those kids saying we're too commercial now have a point. Maybe for the next album we should just play and see what we come up with."

James sipped his water. "We tried that. It was a mess."

"Well we have to do something different. No more of this sellout shit."

James avoided the burning tip of the cigarette in a move born of long practice. "Put out the cigarette before you burn me or yourself or something else," he said mildly.

Lars stubbed out the cigarette and lay down on the couch, putting his head on James' lap. "Well?" he demanded. "What the fuck are we going to do?"

"Find a new bassist and make a new album."

Lars sat up. "Shit, man. Why'd this fucking have to happen?"

"Things change, Lars."

Lars scrubbed his hands through his hair and lay back down. "Skylar's leaving me."

"Shit, man, I'm sorry." James stroked Lars' hair gently.

"Yeah. She's moving and she's going to do the whole doctor thing there. She's leaving Myles with me." Lars sat up again. "Let's jam for a while."

"Sure." James set down his water bottle and plugged in a guitar. He laughed as Lars stripped off his shirt. "Can't you play while wearing clothes?"

Lars grinned at him. "It's more fun this way." He sat down at his drum kit and idly banged on the drums while James tuned his guitar. When James was ready, he hit record on the equipment and started playing, following along with what Lars was doing. Lars grinned at him and changed the pace. James kept up with him, then changed what he was playing, forcing Lars to follow him. They played back and forth for a while, then moved into things that sounded more like songs, challenging each other to keep up and play new things.

When they'd been playing for an hour or so, Kirk came into the studio. He dropped his coat onto the couch and grabbed one of the other guitars. He tuned it quietly. James changed what he was playing, making space in the sound for Kirk. Kirk willingly joined in, taking the lead for a moment, then relaxing into the music and letting it wander.

After a while, Lars stopped playing and draped himself over the drums. He caught the towel James threw at him and rubbed it over his face and chest. "Fuck, I'm tired. That was fun. It's been too long since we last did that. We gotta make some changes." He twisted the top off a bottle of water and drank deeply. "I think on our next tour we should do it the way we did when we were first starting out. No lights, no effects, no bullshit. Just us playing."

Kirk nodded. "You've gotta do things differently, too." He put down his guitar and met Lars' eyes. "No more drugs." He held up a hand to stop Lars' protest. "I can read between the lines. You don't sleep until two in the afternoon when you're only drunk. No more drugs. And no more fucking every man around. It's not safe. If you need to be fucked, you come to me--"

"Or me," James put in. Kirk threw him a startled look. James nodded at him.

"If you need to be fucked, you come to me or James; you don't go to Twiggy or some other guy you hardly know."

"I know Twiggy," Lars said sulkily, crossing his arms across his chest.

"You know what I mean," Kirk said firmly.

Lars looked to James, who watched him with the same implacable expression Kirk was wearing. "Yeah," he admitted grudgingly. "I know what you mean." He drank from his water bottle, then swiped his wrist over his mouth. "Skylar's leaving me."

Kirk winced. "Shit. I'm sorry."

Lars shrugged. "Yeah, well. At least she's leaving Myles with me."

Kirk walked around behind him and draped his arms over Lars' shoulders. "I'm sorry," he said softly. He kissed Lars' cheek. "You can always call me to talk about it," he offered. "Even late at night. It might drive Lani crazy, but she'll deal with it."

Lars leaned back against Kirk's chest. "Thanks," he said softly. "I'll try not to call too much."

Kirk patted his chest. "Don't worry about it. Call whenever you need to. Lani's taking some classes. If you wake her up, she'll be as tired as the rest of the college students."

Lars laughed and put his hands over Kirk's. "Thanks."

"You can talk to me too," James said gruffly. He shrugged uncomfortably when Kirk and Lars looked up at him. "I'm not a total bastard."

Lars grinned at him. "Yes, you are." He turned serious again. "Thanks." He gripped Kirk's hands for a moment, then let his hands fall into his lap. "So what the fuck do we do now?"

"Now we find ourselves a bassist and make an album," James said firmly.

Lars groaned. "Fuck. That's another headache."

James shook his head. "There are a lot of great bassists out there. We just have to pick one."

"And we have to let him in on everything we do," Kirk said. "We're not going to fuck things up the way we did with Jason."

Lars exchanged a wary glance with James. "I'm not turning over creative control to someone we don't even know."

Kirk let out an exasperated sigh. "You don't have to turn over creative control. You can still say no to whatever he suggests, but we have to listen to his ideas." When James and Lars only kept looking at each other, he impatiently said, "If we don't, we're just going to have all the same problems we had with Jason."

James nodded slowly. "Okay. We'll listen. I'm not promising we'll do what he suggests, but we'll listen." He looked back at Lars. "Okay?"

Lars shrugged. "Yeah, okay. If you're cool with it, it's cool." He smiled suddenly, stretching his arms up. "We're cool."

Kirk shook his head as he sat down on the couch. "Lars Ulrich, eternal optimist."

Lars sat next to him, leaning his head on Kirk's shoulder. "Well, we are cool, right? We're going to get a new bassist and make a new album, and we're gonna do it our way. Myles can hang out in the studio; he's done that before."

James sat on the other side of Lars and laughed. "Yeah, and he drove you nuts."

Lars grinned and elbowed him in the side. "Yeah, but it was great, wasn't it?"

James laughed and draped his arm over Lars' shoulders. "Yeah, it was."

Lars leaned against him for a moment. "We are cool, right?" he asked anxiously, looking up at James.

James hugged him close for a moment and kissed his temple. "Yeah. We're cool."


End file.
